1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to display of pennants, logos, flags or indicia. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of displaying and means of securing pennants, logos, flags or indicia on a vehicle.
2. Background of The Arts
One method of showing support for a sports club, professional organization, political group or country is by flying pennants, logos, flags or indicia on a vehicle. Various patents have proposed different methods of securing a pennant, logo, flag or indicia on a vehicle. Each existing patent has its drawbacks and limitations.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,524,857 and 5,233,938 describe a vehicle window-mounted mast. One of the disadvantages of the vehicle window-mounted flag is the excessive noise they produce when the vehicle is in motion. The noise originates from two sources, (1) flapping of the flag by wind gust, and (2) road noise resulting from the fact that the door or window cannot be tightly shut. Another disadvantage of the vehicle window-mounted flag is the road hazard they could cause should the vehicle window be lowered when the vehicle is in motion. There is tendency for wind force to forcefully remove the flag from the window, thus causing a hazard for other vehicles on the road.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,497 to Nichols Jr. discussed a flag system limited only to the hood of a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,117 to Flick describes a car door flag holder, whereby, upon closing of the door a flag holder bracket will be securely clamped between the door and door jamb. Whereas, upon opening the door, the flag holder bracket will fall off.
A vehicle antenna mounting flag has been proposed by Romesburg in U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,230 and by Sectish in U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,621. Drawback in these designs is that the wind force generated by the flag is transferred to the antenna. The force may exceed the antenna's structural capabilities and thus cause the antenna to damage. Moreover, not all vehicles are equipped with a rod antenna.
Similarly, suction cup and magnetic base mounted flag masts proposed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,483,916, 4,574,726, 3,241,516 and 3,148,856 exhibit the disadvantage of being adversely affected by wind force, when the force is transferred to the holding bases. Should the holding base separate from where it was stuck, the disengagement may cause the invention to act as a projectile, thus creating a hazard situation to other road users. Moreover, pennants, logos, flags or indicia that depends of magnetic forces are limited to metallic vehicle panels.
It would therefore be highly desirable to provide a method and means that would overcome all aforementioned prior arts drawbacks and limitations for attaching and flying pennants, logos, flags or indicia on a vehicle.